The capture in Georgia of Gary Michael Hilton for the murder of Meredith Emerson would help solve other murder cases in the Southeast. “During this investigation, I got phone calls from several different states because they had missing hikers in their forests,” John Cagle, the GBI lead investigator on the case, told “Real Life Nightmare.” In Georgia, Hilton pleaded guilty to murdering Emerson and a judge sentenced him to life without parole. But it would be a case in Florida that would put the serial killer on death row.
On December 1, 2007, Cheryl Dunlap disappeared while visiting the Leon Sinks Geological Area in Leon County, Florida, according to the Florida Supreme Court decision in the case (via Casetext). A hunter discovered the dismembered body of the 46-year-old nurse and Sunday school teacher two weeks later in the Apalachicola National Forest. Eyewitnesses placed Hilton near the scene and investigators tied Hilton through evidence, including DNA, to the murder. In February 2008 a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and related crimes and a judge, on the jury’s recommendation, sentenced Hilton to death. He is currently awaiting his execution at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida, per the Florida Department of Corrections.
